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Saturday, November 21, 2015

One of our Chases is missing

Yesterday, the Devil devilish Rays of Tampa Bay signed Chase Whitley off waivers, ending his time as a pleasant Yankee surprise. Frankly, I wish they took another Yankee Chase, a certain one who throws lead Frisbees to first base, but that's for another day. 

This is good news. 

OK, I know what you're thinking: How is this good news, you idiot? Chase Whitley was an over-achiever, a wondrous surprise, even though the Yankees yo-yoed him through the system, viewing him an afterthought. Now he's gone, and we're back to hoping CC Sabathia will lose weight, gain weight, quit drinking, resume drinking - whatever - to magically transport himself back to 2007. How is this good news? 

By the way, it's pretty cruel of you to think such thoughts about CC, but I'll let it go.

It's good because the Yankees are actually having other teams pick up our table scraps. It's good because the Yankees protected Ben Gamel, an 23-year-old outfielder who hit .300 at Scranton and was named - drum roll, please - the 2015 International League Rookie of the Year. 

That's right. We have the Rookie of the Year of the International League of 2015. And we have case where a non-hyped prospect actually rises up through the Yankee system and creates value. For most of last year, Gamel seemed to occupy the Jose Pirela Going Nowhere track: A guy who hits at every level, but when the Yankee scouts look at him, they see Betty White after drinking a case of Samuel Adams Pumpkin IPA. I figured they would enter the upcoming Free Agent Draft having unprotected Gamel, which is not exactly like having unprotected sex, but the words sort of fit, so that's how I'm writing it. Sue me. 

We're keeping the 2015 International League Rookie of the Year.

As for Whitley, he's the Chase who got away. (If only it could be... you know who.) Nobody expected much from him, yet somehow you'd find him pitching into the seventh, holding onto a lead. Hate to see him go. Actually I will wish him well in Tampa. It won't surprise me if sometime in July, he's pitching into the eighth against us, nursing a lead. But for once, I'm going to assume the Yankees know what their doing. (I know, it's a stretch.) It's good that other teams are picking through our dumpster again. These days, there might be CC's last quart of Mad Dog 20-20 in there. Don't want it to go to waste.

5 comments:

Alphonso said...

The problem is; some dude named after a mis-spelled camel is not a baseball name.

Can he change it, say, to Mantle?

Anonymous said...

I WAS FOLLOWING BEN GAMEL ALL SEASON THROUGH RAB/ AXISA.....TALK ABOUT "NOT HYPING YOUR PROSPECTS"!!!!......THE ENTIRE ORGANIZATION IS TREATING THIS KID LIKE THEY ARE TREATING REFSNYDER!...."GOD FORBID THIS KID DOES WELL, LETS JUST IGNORE HIM, HE ISN'T MAJOR LEAGUE MATERIAL" ....UNBELIEVABLE!....I KEPT SAYING TO MYSELF, "WHO IS THIS GAMEL?....I NEVER HEARD A THING ABOUT HIM, BUT HE IS LEADING THE TEAM IN HITTING, HE MUST BE ONE OF THOSE 27, 28 YEAR OLDS THAT CAN'T CUT IT...WHERE DID WE GET HIM FROM?"................THAT'S HOW LITTLE A SICK YANKEE FAN LIKE ME KNEW ABOUT HIM.....GLAD HE IS ON THE 40 MAN NOW, BUT ALPHONSO IS RIGHT, CRAPPY NAME...

Anonymous said...

CASHMAN IS HORRIFYING ME EVERY DAY...I KEEP READING HE IS GETTING READY TO DEAL ANDREW MILLER.......FOR WHO????.....TO WHO???......YOU WOULD THINK HE IS SMART ENOUGH TO KEEP HIM OUT OF THE A.L. WHERE HE WOULD TORTURE US FOR YEARS WHEN HE FACES US......OOPS! GUESS NOT.......I'M READING THE ASTROS WANT HIM.....YEAH, PERFECT.....LETS DEAL HIM TO A TEAM THAT WE MAY PLAY AGAINST, (AGAIN) IN A ONE GAME PLAYOFF!.........I CAN'T TAKE THIS SHIT.

Alphonso said...

Cashman is a plague. And we can't ever get rid of him.

So, we are doomed. to mediocrity. Which is far worse than being awful.

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